I used to own that bike, and I have never seen a gussett like that on another Fat. None of my others have it for sure. FYI, that bike used to be in the collection at First Flight Bikes/MOMBAT, and then was ridden by one of my daughters for a time. Enjoy

I used to own that bike, and I have never seen a gussett like that on another Fat. None of my others have it for sure. FYI, that bike used to be in the collection at First Flight Bikes/MOMBAT, and then was ridden by one of my daughters for a time. Enjoy

My guess is that it may have been a repair. Since this was before the introduction of the "double-chin" gusset, it's possible that the headtube-downtube weld cracked and was sent back for repair under warranty and in order to strengthen the area this type of gusset may have been added.

We used this method to gusset the frames we built in secret for Mongoose for John Tomac years ago. Chris did not want to use the chin gusset we developed since that would have been a little too obvious at the time. We added the side plate gussets and I think those frames held up fairly well under Johnny's hard riding style. (Pretty cool now to see his kid Eli doing so well in Supercross)

I don't remember exactly but I think some early trials frames had this style of gusseting as well since trials riding was very stressful for that tubing intersection. Or maybe that's just a smoky shop thing again??